WIPO RT/TIP/ ll/4

ORIGINAL: English

DATE: July l3, 19 81

WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION GENEVA

ROUND TABLE. OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS ON TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW

Geneva, July 14-to 16 , 1981

THE NECESSITY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN -THE FIELD OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW AT UNIVERSITIES IN THE

PROCESS OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING REFORM

Presented by

Professor Dragomir V. Cerovi~, Ph.D. Law School of the University in Kragujevac

Yugoslavia

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THE NECESSITY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT

OF TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY LAW AT UNIVERSITIES IN THE

PROCESS OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING REFORM

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues,

I have. arrived to this Assembly with a feeling of

gratitude for having been invited as-.well as with a conviction that

the initiative of WIPO has come at the right moment. By this I mean

the more and more conspicuous trend in the work and development

of the World Organization /UNO/ which has been showing more concern

for the problems which appear due to enormous differences in the level

of development of certain parts of the modern world and in which the

@ necessity for gradual but faster equalization of the economical, social

and cultural living and working conditions on the entire planet is be­

coming more and more obvious.

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We most sincerely believe that one of the ways which

lead to this goal can be the realization of the project we are discussing

here and we also believe that ATRIP will become an international plat­

form from which the voice of science will not only be heard but will also

receive very definite echoes.

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We are in an era of extremely fast development of sciences

and tecimics, at the time when the accomplished level of developmen·i: is

already offering results which were not long ago completely inconceivable,

and at the time when further achievements are almost unpredictable. Such

scientific and technical progress, besides the mere transformation of pro­

ductive relations both in the economical and the technological sense, causes

profound and general social changes. They do not occur only in the process

of labour, but in the life of the worker and the entire society as well.

It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to keep up with

this fast development of sciences and technics, not only because of the

revolutionary changes in technology, but also because of the more and more

obvious intellectualization of living labour which is due to the fact that tech­

nical instruments are penetrating into all aspects of work and living.

In such situation it is inevitable to introduce a parallel

process of corresponding modifications of the entire system of education

and curriculums on all levels, but with special emphasis on university

~ducation which is at the rrioment undergoing a process of reform almost

in the entire world, so that university teaching programme must become

interdisciplinary overcoming traditional divisions.

At present, it is becoming more and more evident that in

the process of economy development, and therefore, in the creation of a

broader material basis for entire social development, instead of merely

man and his living labour, products of man's intellectual creativity are

begim1ing to prevail. Contrary to the classical industry model of growing

productive powers in which man as working power has only 11applicable"

value, in the current scientific and technical revolution, the main factor

is how the volume of science is expressed as a productive power.

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The statical model of economic growth based on the combination of three

factors - nature, labour and capital ~ is losing ground it had been built

on, on which it had been the absolute ruler in the past period. Contem­

porary theories of economic growth 1

point out that the progress of science,

knowledge and technology has the significance of a decisive factor in

acceleration of economic growth. This also appears in the statement that

"the difference in the level of progress of science, knowledge and tech­

nology can very well explain the variety of degrees of economic growth ' 2

even among some highly developed countries". Abramowitz also says:

"It is almost certain that only discoveries, application and exchange of

new knowledge can be compared with capital investments as the direct

cause of economic growth"J, but when speaking of developed countries,

the progress of technology influences more the growth of national income

than capital investments themselves, because it means direct increase of

productivity. However, the American author W. Heller, calls the transfer

of technology and new technical achievements "the main key to economy

development" even when speaking of developing countries. 4

But, even if we disregard all previously said, it can be

concluded that, even if there still are some doubts about the significance

of inventions and innovations as a direct factor of development, it is certain

(1 that in technology they are the synonim of progressive movement. On the

other hand, there is no doubt that progressive development of technology

influences to a large extent the change in productive relations and that

1. See in J. Fourastie, "Civilisation", in the introduction and further, Paris, 1961.

2. Compare: M.Abramowitz, "Economics of Growth", R.D.Irwin Inc., Homewood, 1952, vl. II.

3. Ibid. ,p. 146.

4. W. Heller, "Fiscal Policies for Underdeveloped Countries", in the edition Agricultural Texation and Economic Development, Harvard University Law School, Cambridge, Mass., 1954, p. 62.

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there exists a close correlation between the enti re social development

and the improvement of technics of production. But, as Marx has said,

each novelty bears the characteristics of the envirorunent in which it

appeared5 , and, as many discoveries, inventions and procedures are

being subject to borrowing and transferring, the necessar'"J condition

for them to be successful is that they must be adapted and transposed

to new specific circumstances according to the possibilities and needs

of the new place of application.

Speaking of "economics through invention", Marx points

out that " ••• one must distinguish general labour from common labour.

Both have their role in the process of production. Each transforms into

the other but they also differ. General labour includes all scientific

work, every discovery, every invention; it is conditioned partially by

cooperation with living men, partially by exploiting the work of previous .. 6

generations. " And further, in developing the thought about economic

advantages of cooperation, Marx directly points out that cooperation,

as a productive relation, is convenient "for exploiting new inventions,

without increasing the price of merchandise".

By defining cooperation as common work of several sub­

jects in the same process of production, or in different but connected

() processes of production, opposing the anonimity of work on developing

inventions and technical innovations, Marx positively states his opinion

about valorization of inventions and technical achievements, finding that

their value /as a sui generis activity/ cannot be measured by quantity of

labour, but by the value of increased production. 7

5. See: K. Marx, "teorija o visku vrednosti", Beograd, 1953, p. 348.

6. K. Marks, "Kapital", knj.Ill, Beograd, 1948.

7. See and compare: K. Marks, op.cit. Chapter VI,p.156, Chapter XI p~ 273 and Chapter XIII, p. 330, as well as on the character of imma.:. terial production in accordance with social forms in "Teorija o visku vrednosti", Beograd, 1953, I, p. 348.

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In contribution to treating of technical novelties and

inventions as a factor of development, Lenin" s opinion on the social

character of inventory work should also be stated with respect to "in-8

eluding inventions in lawfully organized capital". However, having in

mind the movements and trends of development of contemporary ec~nomy

in the world, it can be stated with certainty that, even if the type of

social system existing in different parts of the world is disregarded,

achievements of science and technics resulting from the activity engaged

in research and development have become not only the central question

of economic politics and the contemporary theory of development, but also

a more and more significant part of the total production potentials and

national resources.

A hundred and twenty years ago Marx had already de­

veloped in detail the following point of view: "Parallel to the development

of industry, creation of wealth becomes less dependant on working hours

and the quantity of invested labour and more dependant on the efficiency

of equipment used during working hours. The equipment -i.e. its strong

efficiency -is not in any kind of relation with working hours directly used

in its production, but it depends more on the general level of science and

development of technology, i.e. on the application of science in production.

Developing of sciences, especially of natural sciences, and others with

them, is also dependant on developing of material production. "9

When studying the process of acquiring and keeping level

of knowledge in contemporary circumstances of earning and in the current

8. V.I. Lenin, "lmperijalizam", then "Socinenija", IV ed., Vol. 26, Gosizdat,1949,p.4,Ibid., Vol.30,p •. S4. Similar in Marx, "Kritika politicke ekonomije",Beograd,1949.p.20..:. on the aspect of social character of industrial property in socialistic social system. ·

9. K •. Marks, "Grundrisse der kritik der Politischen Oekonomie" /Rohentwurf/ 1857.:.1858, Dietz.:.verlag, Berlin, 1953, p. 592.

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revolution of science and technics, and when regarding this process as a

factor of social development, contemporary authors10

consider it from the

following characteristic aspects:

a • .:. the increase of expert knowledge, i.e. the extent of

scientific and technical achievements as an additional accumulation, re­

presenting potential of production and a part of the total development funds

of society, forms a part of the total "social capital" or the total national

potentials; therefore, its transformation into additional accumulation is more

important than any material increase of accumulation;

b, - the problem of bringing education into accordance with

the needs for expert knowledge is characterized at least by two things:

1. the problem of knowledge being constantly outdated due

to fast development of science and technics which brings up the problem

of duration of education and the problem of the contents of curriculums, and

2. the problem of coordination of the general level of

expert especially university training with the achieved level of economic

and social development which seeks solution for the problem of how to

overcome the "university crisis" and the excess of experts with university

training which is a universal problem. ' '

c. -the problem of restitution of invested funds into ac-

quiring knowledge, i.e. the time limit of "Knowledge amortization", which

is reduced to the relation:· cost of education vs. efficiency, / social benefit/

of knowledge vs. real effect of acquired knowledge, in which the given

elements of this relation are not necessarily in any ratio, making it all the

more complicated because it has become evident from practice that it is,

from social aspect, much easier to administer the formation, usage and

efficiency of investments into material production funds than into acquiring,

usage and efficiency of knowledge. 11

10. For ex. :R. Stojanovic in "Upravljanje razvojem u savremenom drustvu", Savremena admini.stracija, Beograd, 1980., p. 251 and on.

11. Compare:J.M.M. Ritzen, "Education, Economic Growth and Income Dis.:. tribution", Amsterdam, 1977. ,or O.J.McDiarmid, "Unskilled Labour for Development: Its Economic Cost", Washington, The World Bank, 1977.

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This short review of research trends of contemporary

authors demonstrates in its own way that the subject of this scientific

assembly in Geneva should be enriched by these aspects too, especially

now when the question of university reform and the question of university

curriculums in the current "university crisis" has shown that it should

be considered from all aspects. As it is today a very controversial and

broadely discussed problem, at least a few most commonly emphasized

problems should be mentioned. For instance, the question whether know­

ledge acquired at universities approaches or drifts away from practice

under the circumstances of current revolution of sciences and technics

/and not only from the present but also the future practice/ or whether

permanent education during the entire active life of an expert is neces-

sary ~which is the essential question of university reform? How is it

possible to control whether it ·is applied in university training and to

what extent ~through close association with practice and through what

kind of association? Should students be enabled to work in enterprises

while studying or whether it can be realized by dislocation of university

centres into developed parts of the country or by enabling postgraduate

students and professors to visit developed centres in the country or abroad?

How is it possible to realize a collaboration of professors with the economy -

directly or through their engagement in big research projects? An appro­

priate combination of all cited methods would probably give the desired

results. However, the problem of appropriate adjusting of university

education to contemporary needs of society does not expire only in what

has been said, but the time limit necessary for refunding means invested

into education of an individual /which should be the shortest possible/

must always be kept in mind, or in other words, the acquired knowledge

· ought to enable refunding considerably before the end of the working life~

time of the individual; the discount rate for means invested in his edu~

cation should be as big as possible ~ in the sense of what the individual

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is able to return to the society by his acquired knowledge. In that sense, e we believe that ATRIP could play a significant role by its mere existance

and functioning.

The aim of this presentation is to point out briefly the

exceptional complexity of the question of education reform, especially

that of university reform under conditions of the present phase of revo­

lution of sciences and technics' which at the same time points out the

d~er from any form of simplification of the problem or hastily offered

solutions. But, our own aim is not to attempt to treat the entire problem

of education in modern circumstances. We have set out for ourselves

the aim to give some specific propositions in a narrow field -the problem

of experts and their acquiring the necessary knowlwdge in the field of law.

It can be said with certainty that all authors, both those

of the past periods and our contemporaries, regardless of their ~dec­

logical standpoints, agree on a number of problems which form the basis

of this presentation.

As the achievements of the scientific and technical re-

volution and the application of technical creativity are becoming more

and more the source of wealth of modern society , the application and all

forms of transmission of results of creativity in production seek for ap­

propriate, a modern system of education directed towards developing of

specific knowledge and creative capabilities of experts. Such direction

in education programming calls for curriculums based on a wide general

technical culture, on an interdisciplinary approach and on an emphasis

on those, usually neglected, scientific disciplines which provide for a

regulated and undisturbed circulation of sci entific and technical achieve.:.

ments, their transmission without discrimination.

As education is on all levels, especially at universities,

one of the main factors of scientific and technical revolution, it is neces­

sary to adjust the reform of the educational system from the standpoint

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of this revolution. The reason for this is that the contents of curriculums

is very slow in adopting new achievements of sciences and technics, that

teaching of natural sciencesis not sufficiently polytechnically directed,

that technical activities are not sufficiently present in schools, that social

sciences insufficiently pay attention to planning of scientific and technical

development, and that disciplines of law insufficiently deal with the lawful

norms and regulations in the field of protection, application and exchange of .

1 f hn. 1 . . 12 resu ts o tee 1ca creatiVIty.

There is no wealth, or as Lenin calls it, socially organized

capital, without rights and regulations which protect its integrity and enable

its regular reproduction. And as a large share of wealth is made up of

scientific and technical achievements - inventions and innovations, their

application and exchange or transmission - it is doubtlessly a social need

to develop such disciplines of.law which treat norms for the protection,

application and exchange of results of creativity in technics and economy. 13

When speaking of the scientific and technical revolution

and its correlation with modern development of the education system, es­

pecially on university level, in the field of law it is the question of the

following disciplines: Copyright which deals with norms related to products

of creative work in sciences and arts and Industrial Property Rights which

include patent rights' trademark acts' rights for protection of samples and

models, and other norms of law which refer to the protection, application

and exchange of technical and economic creations; finally, it is also the

question of rights for protection against unlawful competition.

12. Compare the material from the Conference on Creation in Sciences, Technics and E .con:omy in Beograd, 1970, special publication "Yugoslav Inventions", p. 9.:.39. .

13. Compare ideas of S. Pretnar in papers ~rom the Conference mentioned in footnote 12 and the Second Yugoslav Conference on Advancement of Inventions and Technical Innovations in Industry and Mining, Opatija, 1973.

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In spite of historical facts:

-that in the fifteenth century in Venice a whole system

of law regulations was already developed, by which the society wished

to urge talented authors to work creatively and compensate for their ef­

forts in creation by lawful protection of inventions and by establishing

rights in the process of their exploitation, for it was an activity useful

to the entire society;

- that such regulations found their place in legislations

of the seventeenth century England and the eighteenth century France; ' ' '

-that none of the so-called big codifications in the begin-

ning of the nineteenth century neglected norms on technical creative work

and

~ that back in 1883 an international system of norms for

legal protection, application and exchange of creative work in technics

and economy was already created through the Paris convention on protection

of industrial property, which is, although revised, still valid

it is almost unbelievable today, when sciences and technics

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have reached such a high level of development, that such disciplines as Copy- e right and Industrial Property Rights still do not appear in curriculums of

all law schools, let alone faculties of technics and others.

In fact there are very few law schools, both in Yugoslavia

and in Europe, which have Copyright and Industrial Property Rights as

separate subjects in their curriculums, and even where they do, they are

treated diversely, on some faculties they are optional subjects and very

rarely obligatory; in majority cases these disciplines are connected into

a single subject /for example, at Law School of the Belgrade University/

and only exceptionally / as at Law School of the University of Kragujevac/

they are separate and obligatory subjects in the curriculum for the third

year of studying; in majority cases students "hear" about industrial prop­

erty rights and copyright "incidentally", within subjects such as Commercial

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Law, International Private Law, International Business Law, Obligation

Law etc. In such cases, it is not difficult to presume how much of the

matter about these disciplines and -norms of law can stay in the memory of

a young lawyer who acquires hi~ diploma, disciplines which are necessary

in the more and more rapidly ins::reasing application and international exchange of

technical novelties /industrial property, patents and similar/, technological

kn9wledge /the know~how / and scientific achievements in the modern world

which is full of all kinds of differencies, controversies and contradictions

both in the social, economical and technical aspect.

The situation is similar in all European law schools with

only two exceptions: the Miinchen Law School which devotes special atten­

tion to these disciplines; the merit for this goes to the Max-Planck Institute

for Copyright and Industrial Property, the biggest of the kind in the world,

and to the fact that Miinchen is the centre of German Patent.:.Amt which is

also the largest patent office in the world and that it is the centre of Euro­

patent - the patent administration of the European Economic Community;

and the second is the International Faculty of Comparative Rights in Stras.:.

sburg which organizes special courses whose curriculums are completely

devoted to studying of these disciplines.

In such situation in the developed part of the world, it is

easy to presume how these disciplines are represented in curriculums at

law schools in developing countries, although they are forced to absorb

intensively all achievements of sciences, technics and technology if they

wish to overcome their status of being underdeveloped. The lack of expert

knowledge in the field of Industrial Property Rights and Copyright threatens

to prolong the unequal position of the underdeveloped countries and to

create in this way conditions for further spreading of technological colo.:.

nialism. The inadequate law regulations in this field can influence tech.:.

nology transfer from developed parts of the world and in this way it can

delay the process of overcoming the differencies and unequality.

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A few words should be said about the unique example of

the. Law School of the University "Svetozar Markovic" in Kragijevac.

Founded in a distinctly industrial region of our country, it is doubtlessly

the only Law School in the world which has at the very moment of its

founding adopted the explicit intention to develop the disciplines of In­

dustrial Property Rights and Copyright as one of the basic principles

for its scientific work and teaching prograrrune. Due to this orientation

these two disciplines have been introduced in the curriculum from the

very first day of existance of the Law School.

On the basis of such ideas, the Kragujevac Law School

organized postgraduate studies in the fields of Industrial Property Rights

and Copyright together with corresponding related disciplines, such as

International Economy Rights and others.

Finally, the Institute for Industrial Property Rights and

Copyright has also been found,ed in the Law School as a separate unit

being the first such institution in Yugoslavia and the entire Southeastern

Europe and in developing countries, and with a very definite task: first,

to provide for a scientific and teaching development of these disciplines

at the Faculty and broader, and second, to provide the industry and the

entire economy with an expert consultant and a source of experts in this

specific field~

It should also be pointed out that among other aims of the

Institute is the opening of international courses for Industrial Property

Rights and Copyright in near future which will be opelk{to students from

all over the world, especially those from developing countries.

I,f any conclusion should be given to this report, then

we believe that it is not exaggerated to claim that among means which

the society must develop in order to use to the highest degree the

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achievements of the current revolution of sciences, technics and tech­

nology, there must be a part belonging to teaching in the field of

Industrial Property Rights and Copyright. It seems that it has become

a conditio sine qua non.

[End of document]

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